Liturgical Studies

.oOo.

Disclaimer: This site does not represent the Orthodox Christian Mission Center, with which I'm associated. I read and think about a wide range of ideas, opinions, and news, and I post here what interests me, with the hope of engaging in dialogue. You may find views here that even I don't agree with— but always ones I believe are worth thinking about. Feel free to about anything you find here.

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Calendar, Time, and Eternity

• Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, on the original Structure of Christian Worship: Chapter 2 of Introduction to Liturgical Theology (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, Crestwood, NY; 2d ed. 1975) pp. 40-71; including "The Mystery of the Eighth Day" (this section is also available as a separate pdf): the Church goes beyond the Sabbath just as the resurrection goes beyond creation (and thus the Seventh Day Adventists and some 'messianic Jewish' movements, who don't get the difference between Sabbath and Lord's Day, are deeply mistaken).
• Protopresbyter Alexander Schmemann, "Theology and Eucharist": St. Vladimir's Seminary Quarterly, Vol. 5, No. 4, Winter 1961, pp. 10-23.
• Thomas J. Talley, "The Day of His Coming", a discussion about the origins of the feast of Christmas which appears in The Origins of the Liturgical Year (Pueblo Books, Liturgical Press, Collegeville: 1986 and 1991), Part Two, sections 1 through 6 (pp. 79-103). Shows that there is little evidence for the popularly held assumption that Christmas was instituted to counter the pagan Saturnalia.
• St. John of Damascus, “On Astrology”: Book II, Chapters VI and VII of his Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith.